


There is Always Room at the Table

by mangagal



Series: The Best Things Come in Threes [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Family Dinners, Gen, M/M, Multi, OT3, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-27 20:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangagal/pseuds/mangagal
Summary: Food tastes better when it's eaten with others.  At least Steve thinks so.





	1. The Wheeler’s House

**Author's Note:**

> Have I had this written for months? Unfortunately yes but life gets tough sometimes and what matters is that I'm posting it now! In case you are wondering I'm 95% ignoring the mess that the second season has made of my babies (though I do love Steve adopting every stray child he comes across). I hope you enjoy this and I should be back to posting more regularly since the release of the new season has lit a fire in me! Enjoy!

            Steve coming over for dinner at the Wheeler’s had been an ongoing event ever since Steve and Nancy had first started dating. He never missed meatloaf night but he would show up on other days of the week as well.

            He didn’t come over too often because he knew from experience that parents would start to wonder why his parents were never home for dinner or they would get mad that he was eating their food so often when he wasn't even their child. So he had perfected the right number of nights to eat at other people’s houses. It was ideal to usually only show up once a week or to show up irregularly, if you didn’t show up on the same day every week they were usually happier to see you.

            Steve tried to stick to this rule when eating at Nancy’s and Jonathan’s too but it was so much nicer to eat with other people rather than alone that he sometimes found himself breaking his unwritten once a week rule sometimes. Thankfully they didn’t seem to mind too much.

            Mrs. Wheeler liked getting to talk with him and having Nancy and Jonathan spend time in the house. It made her feel like she knew what was going on in Nancy’s life and she liked knowing that they were safely where she could watch them instead of off getting into some sort of teenage trouble out in the rest of the world.

            Mrs. Wheeler also loved feeding everyone, there was usually at least one of Mike’s friends at the table so what was one more? Mr. Wheeler didn’t really engage in the dinnertime conversation too much so Steve was never really sure what he thought about having Steve as a regular dinner guest. He seemed to be more interested in what was on TV.

            Steve didn’t know if that was normal behavior for fathers to have or not since Steve’s own family so rarely ate together but he would guess from the way that Mrs. Wheeler’s mouth would pinch with irritation when she would look at her husband that this was not the sort of behavior he should emulate. Any way, why would you waste the time that you had together ignoring the people around you? Steve didn’t really get it, wasn't the point of having dinner together to be together? He wasn’t really sure but the rest of the kids at the table left Mr. Wheeler alone so Steve followed their example and largely ignored the other man.

            Maybe everyone turned kind of shitty when they became a dad? Steve shook his head at that, that couldn’t be right. If it were then there wouldn’t be any of those heart warming families in movies and stuff right? There had to be at least a couple decent fathers out there, he just wasn’t sure that he knew any of them. His father wasn’t one that was for sure. He was rarely around and when he was it was enough to make you wish that he would leave again. Jonathan’s father was also no good. Steve didn’t know the whole story other than what rumors were spread about, they hadn’t really talked about it yet, but from what pieces he could patch together he could tell that Lonnie was even worse than his dad was. Nancy’s dad was certainly the best when considered out of the three contenders but he was no shining contender either. So maybe everyone just became shitty when they became a dad, maybe Steve would avoid doing that if this was how fathers turned out.

            “Is everything all right Steve?” Mrs. Wheeler asked with concern, noticing how he had stopped mid-chew and his brow was furrowed. He hurried to swallow his bite of meatloaf and followed it with a drink of milk to buy himself a couple more moments to get his story together.

            “Everything is delicious Mrs. Wheeler. I was just trying to figure out how you made your meatloaf so delicious but I just can’t figure it out!” He may have laid it on a bit thick, perhaps throwing a characteristic grin in her direction to sweeten the flattery. Nancy rolled her eyes at him, not noticing that anything had been wrong to start with, good. Mrs. Wheeler also took the bait and waved her hand at him, obviously taken in by his flattery.

            “Well it’s no trade secret, it’s just a regular old meatloaf.” She said smiling at him, “I can give you the recipe before you go home and your mother can make it sometime.”

            “That would be great Mrs. Wheeler!” Steve said excitedly, glossing over the fact that his mother would never ever touch raw meat, “That way I won’t have to bother you so much every time you make it.”

            “Of course not a bother Steve! We love having you here.” She looked a little worried that he would feel unwelcome here but her brow smoothed out quickly, “Our home is your home, at least during the day.” She said with a joking threat.

            “Of course ma’am!” Steve shot off a quick salute, “I would never imagine otherwise!” He grinned at her and Mrs. Wheeler couldn’t help but shake her head at his antics. Nancy reached under the table to grab his hand and give it a little squeeze. He squeezed back and shot her a little smile. Eating with others was so much better than eating alone.


	2. The Byers House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Joyce's turn to cook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Who am I? Impatient, that's what. I hope all of your lovelies enjoy this chapter!

            “Oh no!” Joyce cried out as yet another pot threatened to boil over while yet another thing started to let off a worrisome cloud of smoke.

            “Are you sure we can’t help you mom?” Jonathan asked worriedly from the threadbare couch.

            “No no, I’ve got it!” She yelled unconvincingly from the kitchen as she forced the small window open to suck out the smell of something burned, “You cook for us all the time, I should do it sometimes. I’m not completely helpless you know!” Jonathan let out a quiet little sigh that was inaudible over the sounds of the kitchen.

            “She’s not usually this… frazzled.” Jonathan said with a grimace, as if Joyce would scare Steve off, “I think she’s excited that you’re here for dinner? We can have sandwiches later if it’s really bad.”

            “Nah, I’m sure whatever she makes will be great.” Steve said with a grin. He loved Joyce from the moment they had been formally introduced and she had insisted that he call her Joyce instead of Mrs. Byers because “It makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong when people call me that.” It was honest, so much better than Carol’s mom who made everyone call her Melissa because she couldn’t accept that she wasn’t twenty-two anymore.

            “It smells great Joyce!” He called out as she carried a plate to the table.

            “Oh stop that!” She groused, whacking him lightly on the shoulder as she walked by, “We’ll be lucky if I don’t give us all food poisoning.” Jonathan rolled his eyes so Steve was reassured that she had never actually given her family food poisoning.  

            Steve had been worried that she would hate him; after all he’d said all of those awful things about her and her family. But she’d greeted him warmly with a hug so it seemed like Jonathan had never said anything specific about the fight. Steve glanced over at his boyfriend who kept shooting worried glances into the kitchen, warring with himself over whether to respect his mother’s wishes or to go and save her from herself. Steve had apologized of course but he still wondered if Jonathan had really forgiven him for what he’d said. He hadn’t really meant it, hadn’t really known anything about him or his family, he’d just hit where he’d known it would hurt. He’d said sorry but you couldn’t ever really take back what you’d said, he knew that.

            “Quit it.” Jonathan said, his eyes no longer on his mother in the kitchen but instead boring a hole in the side of his skull for who knows how long.

            “What?” He asked self-consciously.

            “Stop worrying so loudly, there’s nothing to worry about right now.” Jonathan said seriously, “Unless you’re actually scared of my mom giving us food poisoning, she’s never actually done that before.” He quirked a little smile and Steve couldn’t help but smile back.

            “Nah,” Steve said peering at the table, “I’ve definitely eaten worse before and it hasn’t killed me so I doubt that Joyce’s lovingly prepared delicious meal would finish me off.” His voice rose to performance levels as Joyce walked back through the living room. She just rolled her eyes at his antics.

            “Dinner’s ready,” she said a bit tiredly but she seemed proud none the less, “it’s nothing fancy but…”

            “I’m sure it’s great mom.” Jonathan patted his mother’s shoulder as he walked past. Will materialized out of nowhere to claim a spot next to Steve. Steve had never had any little siblings (obviously) or younger cousins, Mike had warmed up to him over time but they still weren’t especially close, but Will seemed to really like him for whatever strange reason. It was nice. Will was a good kid and it made him try to stand just a little bit taller, to be someone who should actually be looked up to.

            “Well if I haven’t scared you off to badly with my cooking,” Joyce said teasingly halfway through the meal, “you can come back for dinner some other time. I swear, Jonathan’s a much better cook than I am. I have no idea how he managed that.” Jonathan protested bashfully at that while she just gave him a proud smile. “So if you come over any day besides Thursday you should be safe.” She continued, looking so happy surrounded by her little family.

            Steve thought that if he could pick a new mom he would want her to be like Joyce. Don’t get him wrong Mrs. Wheeler was great. She kept the house clean, the kids fed, and she loved them all dearly, she was almost like one of the moms in those old 50’s sitcoms. But there was just something about Joyce. She wasn’t perfect but she loved her family so much, it was clear to anyone who bothered to look. She would go to the moon it’s self for her children. But then she’d drop a plate and accidentally say shit, and tell them that they shouldn’t use language like that. It was the way that there were half drunk cups of coffee strewn about the house, it was the way you could feel her presence throughout the house.

            “Well if it’s no trouble…” Steve started.

            “Of course it’s no trouble!” Will piped up from his side, beaming at everyone at the table.

            “Well if the great and powerful Will allows it,” Steve said, reaching over to ruffle Will’s hair, “then I guess I can come by again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all you lovelies like this chapter (the next chapter is my favorite by the way so get ready for that). If you liked it please feel free to leave a comment or kuddos, I always love hearing from you! I somehow sprained my foot so I hope you are all having a better week than I am!


	3. The Byers House II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve just wants to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter, as I said it's my favorite from this story!

            “I think I got the right things.” Steve called out as he pushed his way in through the door.

            “Steve, it looks like you bought half the store.” Jonathan huffed out with exasperation.

            “Well I wanted to make sure that I got the right stuff.” Steve shot back defensively.

            He and Jonathan had gotten into an argument about it. Steve felt bad for mooching off of them and always eating their food when they were obviously struggling. So Steve had offered to pay for it, wrong move.

            “We’re not some damn charity Steve!” Jonathan had replied angrily.

            “I don’t think you are!” Steve had protested but Jonathan obviously felt otherwise.

            “We can take care of ourselves Steve, we don’t need your pity.” He continued, “We got along perfectly fine before you showed up!”

            “Yeah but now I keep showing up and eating all your food.” Steve shot back with confusion; “I don’t want to be any trouble for you.” That seemed to pull Jonathan up short.

            “What? Of course your not trouble, we like having you over.” Jonathan said nonplus, like he didn’t see how this was connected to the rest of their conversation. They’d gone back and forth on the issue. Jonathan finally gave in and said that Steve could buy the groceries when he was coming over for dinner, “Sometimes!” Jonathan had insisted. So that was how Steve ended up laden with grocery bags as he hung his coat up by the door. Jonathan poking through the too full bags.

            “Steve,” Jonathan said with a warning in his tone, “I didn’t ask you to get anything that’s in this bag.”

            “Really?” Steve tried to act innocent about it, “I could have sworn that you did?” Jonathan was about to lay into him about it when Will wandered into the kitchen at the commotion, his eyes bugging at the groceries on the ground. Jonathan let out a long-suffering sigh.

            “Will, help us put this stuff away so I can start dinner.” Jonathan said turning back to the cutting board he’d been working on when Steve had burst in.

            “Wow! Did you really get butterscotch pudding?” Will asked, face lighting up.

            “Yup, it’s all for you little Byers.” Steve said with a grin. “You can share some with your mom if you want. But you can’t share any with your brother, he’s mad at me.” He finished with a stage whisper. Will turned his big eyes to his brother who relented under the wide-eyed stare of both of them.

            “I’m not mad at you.” Jonathan grumbled, turning his back to them. Steve gave Will a thumbs up.

            “Well then I guess you can share some with your brother if you want to.” Steve said grinning conspiratorially at Will. The two of them made quick work of the groceries and Will headed off to the table to draw.

            “You’re not really mad at me are you?” Steve asked, draping himself across Jonathan’s back, pressing little kisses against the smooth skin behind his ear.

            “I’m not mad at you you goober.” Jonathan sighed putting the knife down, “Now quit bothering me before I chop a finger off.” Jonathan kissed his cheek before pushing him on his way. Steve stumbled off to the table with what was probably the dopiest smile on his face.

            “Hey kiddo,” Steve said taking a seat, “mind if I draw with you?”

            “Are you any good?” Will asks passing over a piece of paper.

            “I’m what people would call bad probably.” Steve pulled a grimace.

            “Alright, you can use the crayons then.” Will said slyly.

            “I’ve been wounded!” He cried out dramatically, “No drawing for you I guess.” Steve petulantly stuck his tongue out as Will laughed at him. They drew, or colored in Steve’s case, in companionable silence.

            “So,” Will asked with forced casualness, “you and my brother are dating?” Will’s eyes remained steadfastly on his paper when Steve glanced over.

            “Well, yeah.” Steve started, not really sure were this was going, “And Nancy too.”

            “Okay, cool.” Will continued drawing.

            “Um, but it’s kind of a secret.” Steve scratched at the back of his neck, “Mike doesn’t know so if you could keep it a secret that would be cool.” Will finally looked up at that.

            “Oh, I thought he and Nancy weren’t going to keep secrets any more?” Will asked, tilting his head to the side.

            “Well, I guess she’s just not ready yet?” Steve shrugged as he picked out a purple crayon, “She might tell him eventually but I don’t think she’s going to tell her parents. I’m definitely not telling mine.” He might be pressing a little to hard with the crayon, he lets up before he snaps it.

            “Oh. Would they…um, not take it well?” Will asked carefully.

            “Well, most people won’t take it well buddy.” Steve scratched out a couple more lines, “Nancy might tell her family someday, they’d eventually get over it. My family wouldn’t though, it would be end game for me so it has to stay a secret.”

            “So we’re the only ones who know?” Will asked, obviously talking about him and his mom.

            “Yeah, your family is pretty cool.” Steve says, changing his purple crayon for a green one.

            “Well not our whole family.” Will says quietly, suddenly downcast.

            “Well the ones that matter are the coolest.” Steve reaches out to ruffle his hair again.

            “Why does everyone keep ruffling my hair?” Will squeaks out as he tries unsuccessfully to evade Steve’s hand.

            “Dinner’s ready,” Jonathan calls from the other room over their ruckus, “clear the table off.” Will hops to it as if it’s a well-memorized routine while Steve struggles to put the crayons back in the neat color-coded order they’d been given to him in.

          “Is that supposed to be us?” Jonathan asks, having snuck up behind Steve.

            “Yeah,” he holds it out to be examined, “you like it?”

            “Steve,” Jonathan says with almost amazement in his voice, “this is really terrible.”

            “Well excuse me!” He huffs, “If you don’t like it you can give it back.” Jonathan avoids his grasping hands, keeping the drawing safe close to his chest.

            “No way!” Jonathan says, almost laughing at Steve’s outrage over the drawing. “It’s awful and I love it. It’s going on the fridge!” As Joyce pulled into the driveway she swore she could hear an anguished yell of no coming from inside the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How could anyone not ruffle that bowl-cut? I know I wouldn't be able to resist. I hope you lovelies enjoyed it, the next chapters are going to be a bit angstier so get ready for that. I love hearing from you so please please please leave comments and kudos, it really means a lot to me!  
> Hope you are all having a good week!


	4. The Harrington’s House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with the parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a happy chapter guys, you've been warned! Steve's dad is a piece of shit and doesn't treat his son kindly. You can skip it if you want but I think it's important for the plot of the series overall so you might not get the full plot if you skip. I hope you lovelies enjoy this chapter anyway!

            Silence stretched thick in the air as the three Harrington’s sat around the table eating dinner. Real quality family togetherness. His father had just returned from a business trip and of course his mother had gone with him, you couldn’t trust him to keep his hands to himself if he went alone. Apparently you couldn’t trust him to keep his hands to himself even if you went with him. So his mother was angry that he had tried something and his father was angry that his attempts had been thwarted. Everyone was tired and cross with each other. Them from the long plane ride and their continual marital stress, him from the both of them taking it out on him.

            “Steve,” his mother said sharply, “stop pushing your food around your plate and just eat it already!” Steve had been pushing his food around his plate but he didn’t actually want to eat it. It was some premade garbage that tasted slightly of the can it had been packed in; he could be eating creamed spinach at Nancy’s house or a mystery casserole at Jonathan’s or even eating a plane cheese sandwich here by himself. Any of those would be better, the first two even more so. But here he was, stuck at the table under their scrutinizing gaze.

            “Sorry mom.” Steve chirped instead of saying any of the things he really wanted to and took a moderately sized scoop of whatever this was and stuck it in his mouth. It tasted like glue. The glare at each other silently portion of the night was apparently over and instead it moved on to the criticize Steve’s life portion.

            “How have your grades been?” His father grilled, shoving a piece of meat in his mouth. Manners were apparently reserved for more important people than Steve or his mom.

            “Well, um.” Steve started.

            “Don’t mumble boy.” His dad spat out.

            “Sorry sir,” Steve started again, “I got a B+ on our last English quiz.” His father waved it away; he might as well have told him he got a smiley face sticker for his macaroni art.

           “And um, well I’m passing the rest of my classes.” Steve continued more slowly.

            “I didn’t ask you for an approximation, I asked for your grades.” His father answered harshly. He’d done no such thing, he’d only asked how he was doing but Steve swallowed the frustration that was bubbling up.

            “I’m getting high C’s in most of my classes and a few B’s sir.” Steve answered sullenly. He knew that that wouldn’t be good enough for him but Steve was actually pleased with it. Last semester he hadn’t even been passing most of his classes until the end of the year, let alone getting B’s or almost B’s. Nancy and Jonathan had really been helping him at least turn his work in on time; they’d been a good influence on him. His father let out a sharp tisk at his answer. Not good enough.

            “You need to work harder than that if you don’t want people to realize that you’re a moron with nothing between your ears.” His father sneered. It would never be good enough.

            “Yes sir.” He answered in monotone. His mother tried to dispel the tension that was rising; she wasn’t all that bad overall.

            “Are you and Nancy still seeing each other?” She asked with fake cheer. Fake fake fake.

            “That Wheeler girl?” His father asked, when Steve confirmed that she was his father bowled on without waiting for him to say anything. “The Wheeler's are a good family. I’ve played golf with the man of the house, Tom? Karl?” He waves off his inability to remember such an easy name. “He’s a good man from good blood. Make sure you don’t mess this one up.” Steve ground his teeth together, he wasn’t planning on messing anything up but the way he talked made his hackles rise. Like Nancy was some sort of prized horse with a pure winning bloodline. Before he could snap out some sort of answer his mother broke in.

            “You should bring her over for dinner sometime.” She chimed brightly.

            “Sure thing mom.” He answered, trying to copy her tone, he had to keep up appearances after all. Like he would ever subject Nancy to this, maybe he’d bring over someone he hated but definitely not someone that he loved.

            “How about baseball?” His father continues rattling off questions, “How are you compared to the others on the team? Are they leaving you too far behind are they?”

            “The season hasn’t started yet.” Steve said, a little taken aback. Baseball was usually the thing that he could count on his dad being excited about. Baseball was the one thing that connected them, they would go watch games live and he’d even bothered to show up to Steve’s Little League games. “It’s not even pre-season yet, there’s still snow on the ground.”

            “It doesn’t matter if the team isn’t practicing yet, that’s no reason for you to fall behind just because you’re too lazy to train on your own. I’ve noticed that you've been getting a little chunky lately. You’re going to get left behind if you don’t do something about that.”

            “Yes sir.” Steve grated out, knowing that that was a lie. He was as much of a string bean as ever; Jonathan certainly wouldn’t let him forget that.

            “And you’ve been steering clear of that Byres boy? No more trouble with any of the undesirable sort?” He asked, blotting his face with his napkin showing that the meal was nearing an end.

            “No sir, I’m not getting into any trouble with undesirables.” It wasn’t technically a lie. He was steering clear of everyone _he_ thought was undesirable.

            “Good,” he said standing up; “at least you’re not dragging our name through the mud that way.”  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Steve :( I hope all of you lovelies enjoyed this chapter! I love hearing from you so please feel free to leave comments, I love every single one you leave and it makes me smile! I hope all of you are having a great week and are doing something fun this weekend! <3


	5. The Harrison’s House II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes there's no one to eat with, it's just a fact of life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little bit of a short chapter and only a little bit of a sad chapter.

            Steve stood in front of the refrigerator, cold air spilling out into the already chilly house. Both of his parents would yell at him if they could see how wasteful he was being with the electricity but they could not as they were both away at a dinner party, again. As much as Steve disliked the family dinners he still didn’t like eating alone.

            He wished he could pop over to someone’s house but he’d already had dinner at both Nancy and Jonathan’s homes. He couldn’t exactly drop by Tommy’s house anymore and he’d never really eaten at Carol’s without Tommy even if they had still been talking. So it was dinner alone for the third time this week. He sighed again before closing the fridge.

            The only food sitting on the shelves were a packet of individually wrapped bright orange cheese, for some reason his mother liked the way they came wrapped in plastic. There were plenty of freezer meals in the ice chest; his mom liked how they were individually wrapped too. The packaging bragged about the different wonderful flavors that were waiting inside but Steve knew that they all tasted more or less the same, like cardboard and mystery mash. He picked one at random and threw it in the microwave, five minutes on high heat.

            He thought about making it a true TV dinner and eating in the living room but his mom always seemed to find a stray crumb hiding and would immediately know what he had done. So he sat at the kitchen table by himself and pealed the foil off of his mystery meal. Steve succeeded in burning his mouth on the first bite, the rest tasted like ash after that. It might have tasted like ash even if he hadn’t. He threw it away more or less untouched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter till the end of this story. If you want to get alerts when new stories come out be sure to subscribe to the series. I hope you lovelies are enjoying this story! I always love hearing from you and you guys leave the sweetest comments! I love hearing from you so please feel free to leave comments and kudos. I hope all of you lovelies are having a great weekend! <3


	6. The Harrington’s House III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the unexpected happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for this story! To make sure you don't miss future stories be sure to subscribe to the series! Hope you lovelies enjoy it!

            Steve really didn’t feel like making anything. Contrary to popular belief he could actually cook. He couldn’t do anything fancy like Jonathan could but he could cook some eggs or pasta, simple stuff like that. He had no trouble shopping to keep the Byers pantry filled but it seemed like a waste of time to shop and cook for just him. He didn’t feel like cooking and he couldn’t stand the thought of eating another Hungry-Man TV dinner. Steve decided that he would just go to sleep instead; it wasn’t that big of a deal. He was headed towards he stairs when the doorbell cut through the silent house.

            It was too late for it to be a delivery or a sales call. They didn’t really have any neighbors who would come looking for help (or complain if his parties got a bit too loud). He hoped it wasn’t an ax murder. He hoped it wasn’t one of his father’s mistresses looking for him, that had happened before and Steve really wasn’t feeling up to a repeat performance of that time. He really hoped that it wasn’t one of his father’s mistresses with an ax trying to kill him. When he pulls back the curtains he sees no serial killer or an overly made up twenty something. Instead Nancy and Jonathan are standing on his front porch with a large basket carried between them.  

            “What are you guys doing here?” Steve blurts out as he opens the door, too shocked to greet them properly first.

            “Well it’s nice to see you too.” Nancy say’s as she breezes past him into the house.

            “You guys should go. My parent’s aren’t going to be gone that long,” Steve said, torn between wanting them to stay and knowing that they couldn’t, “they’re just at a dinner party. They’ll be home in an hour or two.”

            “Do they care when you get home?” Nancy asked, completely ignoring what Steve had said. She dug around in the cupboards before emerging victoriously with a couple of bottles of soda.

            “Well no, as long as I don’t bother them when I get back.” Steve replied, confused over where they were going, it was a school night and even if he didn’t have a curfew he knew for a fact that both of them did.

            “You have dinner yet?” Jonathan asked, hoisting the awkward basket into his arms now that Nancy had left him to hold it by himself. This could be Steve’s out, all he had to do was say that he had and then they would go home. They wouldn’t be seen by his parents and they wouldn’t get in trouble with their own parents. He could lie to them but they would probably know he was and he didn’t want to lie to them. Well, he wasn’t going to lie but he wasn’t going to tell them the complete truth either.

            “I haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Steve said, leaving out the fact that he was going to skip, again.

            “Great,” Nancy enthused, “cause we packed a picnic!”

            “A picnic?” Steve looked at Jonathan, like he’d misheard somehow, but Jonathan just gave him a little smile and gestured to the apparent picnic basket. “Are you guys crazy? It’s nighttime! We’ll freeze to death out there!”

            “Aw come on Steve,” Nancy wedeled, “it’s already spring! And anyway we all have winter coats.”

            “We can go back in the car if it’s really too cold.” Jonathan reasoned, “It’ll be fun, Nancy made sandwiches.”

            “And Jonathan made sure that we didn’t forget anything important.” Nancy chipped in.

            “Yeah like the packed basket.” Jonathan teased good-naturedly rolling his eyes. Their play squabbling making a grin break onto his face. He loved his little life he’d carved out, he hoped he could keep it. He didn’t know if he’d be able to let go if it came to that, he didn’t want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's it! I hope y'all enjoyed this story! Be sure to subscribe to the series so you don't miss future stories. I love hearing from you so please feel free to leave comments or kudos or both! I absolutely love hearing from you!
> 
> The next story will not be a happy story BUT! they are going to prom after that so there will be lots of fluff in that story so don't get too down.
> 
> I hope all of you lovelies had a great weekend and that your upcoming week will be amazing!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! I always love hearing from you and treasure each and every comment I ever get! I may or may not read them over and over when I need a boost.... Hope you've all had a good Halloween and the rest of your week is even better!


End file.
